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spent in useful and (I may presume to add) glorious, may have induced you to forget them. Nevertheless, cruelly forsaken in my last misfortunes, I have found in a stranger only, the compassion assistance, and tenderness of a father Without renouncing him who has rejected me. I have thought myself at liberty to adopt him whose virtue and beneficence render him worthy of such a sacred title. The father I have chosen is in obscure and needy circumstances; he is neither distinguished by family nor fortune, but he is virtuous and sensible. By accepting his favour by entering into his family, and marrying his daughter, I am become his son; and the happiness he has conferred on me, far exceeds, as a compensation, all the misery I have endured. I have a due respect for the distinctions established in society; and had I been of a rank that such an alliance would have dishonored, I should have had the resolution to sacrifice my passion, and without it the whole happiness of my life, to the honour of my family. But, I thank God, no such obstacle existed. My wife's birth is equal to my own: and her fortune is not inferior to mine.
